Theatre Royal Windsor – until 25 February 2023
Reviewed by Carly Burlinge and daughter Brooke Burlinge aged 14
4.5 ****
Windsor brings you the musical Heathers- based on the 1988 cult hit starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater that we all know and love. You’re welcomed to Westerberg High where Veronica Sawyer (Jenna Innes) is just another girl trying to survive high school. Then there are theHeathers, Heather Chandler (Verity Thompson), Heather Duke (Elise Zavou) and Heather Mcnamara (Billie Bowman) who float above them all, are beautiful, popular and everyone wants something to do with them. On the downside, they are brutal, fierce, nasty, spiteful and won’t stop at anything to get what they want. When Veronica uses her forgery to get the Heathers out of trouble, they decide to take her under their wing as they feel she could be beautiful and beneficial to their group. Therefore, creating the new and popular Veronica where things become much easier for her but at what price? When the mysterious rebel, JD (Jacob Fowler) turns up, he catches Veronica’s eye yet hidden beneath is a darkness that she knows nothing about…
Jenna Innes played her part as Veronica extraordinarily well providing exquisite vocal skills that had the audience captivated. I especially loved her in, ‘Fight for me’ and ‘Dead Girl Walking’, pure brilliance.
Verity Thompson as Heather Chandler executed her role with much confidence as the leader of Heathers, her rudeness and cruelty was played well and on point, also offering great ability and technique within her song, ‘The Me Inside of Me’.
Jacob Fowler as JD provided a very distinctive role that came across very sinister and eerie as the show began to unfold. He showed a great connection with Veronica making their chemistry more believable which we see in ‘Seventeen’. Along with solos such as, ‘Freeze your brain’ which was remarkable to watch.
The stage was simple and compact yet effective with parts of the set being pulled out to produce a completely new setting. Small props were used to create an impact to the scenes.
Through the use of costumes, you can clearly tell what cliques’ people are in and whether they are popular or not.
Heathers was a truly captivating production to watch while offering a compelling storyline with many intriguing plot twists added in. The show manages to balance various dark themes with humour throughout. It also really puts forward the message that love can be a powerful yet murderous thing.
It was lovely and personal visiting Windsor Theatre with the director coming up on stage at the beginning to say it was a privilege to be at this gorgeous, historical area for the first time. He emphasised this with great emotion, making us all smile and laugh, it was a nice touch.